COLOR ASSOCIATION INFLUENCES HONEY-BEE CHOICE BETWEEN SUCROSE CONCENTRATIONS

Certain colours associated with floral food resources are more quickly learned by honey bees (Apis mellifera) than are other colours. But th e impact of colour, and other floral cues, on bee choice behaviour has not yet been determined. In these experiments, colour association and sugar concentration of reward were varied to assess how they interact to affect bee choice behaviour. Thirty-five bees were individually gi ven binary choices between blue and yellow artificial flowers that con tained either the same rewards or rewards of different sucrose concent rations. Honey bee choice between sucrose concentrations was affected by colour association and this effect was greatest when absolute diffe rence between rewards was the lowest. The honey bee's ability to maxim ize energetic profitability during foraging is constrained by floral c ue effectiveness.